Gaming terminals, such as slot machines, video poker machines and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Generally, the popularity of such machines with players is dependent on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machine and the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to other available gaming options. Therefore, there is a continuing need for gaming machine manufacturers to continuously develop new games and improved gaming enhancements that will attract frequent play through enhanced entertainment value to the player.
One way to enhance the entertainment value of game is to provide a gaming system having system wide tournament features so as to involve a player in a tournament where play may occur on different games at different time, and where players may still be able to compete against each other. The present invention is directed to a gaming system having system wide tournament features including tournament play that may occur on different games at different times and gaming terminals operable in both a cash mode and a tournament mode.